El Centro house: Puppy sales or puppy mill?

January 25, 2012|By IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS STAFF

I have noticed that a house on West Main Street in El Centro seems to always have lab puppies for sale. Isn’t it unhealthy to breed your dog so often or maybe there is some sort of law that would prohibit them from breeding so often? Every time I drive by there I see puppies in cages in the front yard with a “For Sale” sign. It makes me think of a puppy mill. — Disgusted, El Centro

Whether it is unhealthy to the animals or not is another Probe entirely. But considering animals, human and otherwise, are built to breed, we suppose it is natural.

But we see where the letter writer is coming from with this question. It’s a little disconcerting to see puppies being churned out at break-neck speeds.

Some communities even have ordinances on the books to deal with home-breeding, such as Los Angeles County. Imperial County and the city of El Centro are not some of those communities, said Jeff Lamoure, deputy director for county environmental health services, which oversees county animal control.

There are specific violations that have to be going on at that particular home to find an avenue to do something.

Lamoure told us the city of El Centro does have kenneling ordinances, where a permit is needed and no more than four dogs, four cats or a combination thereof are allowed in town without a permit. A caveat of that law says puppies do not factor into that figure if they are less than 4 months old.

A state law, which Lamoure said needs to be better enforced, has to do with selling puppies. It is an infraction subject to fines to sell puppies less than 8 weeks old.

Lamoure said that if the letter writer believes this home to be in violation of any of those laws, call the city of El Centro.